Sunday, February 23, 2014

March 7 - 30Please join us for the opening reception: Friday, March 7, 6-9pm

Anthony "Weird Eye" One (DeBenedictis) is a painter, a muralist and a street artist, working out ofAtlantic Highlands, New Jersey and originally from Newark. Anthony has become known over the years for painting large box-shaped characters on walls, inside abandoned buildings and pretty much everywhere he was able to. Also, for many years, he has been putting up homemade tiny wood panels with creepy & funny faces drawn on them, usually brightly painted. They can be found almost anywhere on the East Coast, high up on buildings, on signs, even stuck to trees deep in the woods near a trail, and sometimes on trucks and trains. One of Anthony's favorite creative outlets is being outside painting murals, both commissions and at his own "secret" walls, and usually from April until the end of November, he splits his time between painting murals & working in his studio.

For many years, Anthony's fine art has focused on abstract patterns & illustration, usually around the characters he painted on walls. So about a year ago, he decided it was time for a change, and slowly shifted away from those box-shaped characters and focused more on "real" objects like animals and a mix of pop-culture, in addition to patterns which have become more intricate and organic. Additionally, his illustration style has become more detailed and a bit rugged much like the jaggedness of tree branches. His murals are also more focused on organic "flowing" patterns and textures as well. Backgrounds & negative space in his art are similar to what you may see in Jackson Pollock paintings, exceptAnthony splatters the paint in a way to show "movement and motion". Most of Anthony's fine art is painted & illustrated on both paper and his own homemade wood panels, and he uses a mix of spray paint, acrylics, gouache and homemade inks that he makes in his studio.Anthony weird*eye*one's new body of work, "Something Wild" focuses on all things beautiful & scary that you may find in the outside world, where he spends most of his time, both hanging out and painting.